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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - No. 3 LSU (23-0, 11-0 SEC) remained undefeated as it took down Texas A&M (6-15, 1-10 SEC) in a 72-66 win on Sunday afternoon inside Reed Arena.
“We played three tough teams in seven days and won all three,” Coach Kim Mulkey said. “I think for the last two weeks that the opponents are really playing extremely hard. They’re playing with a lot of energy and excitement. I asked the team, why do they think that’s taking place and I said, ‘understand what’s taking place here; You are becoming relevant in women’s basketball.’”
Angel Reese put together her third 20 and 20 performance of the season as she tallied 26 and hauled in 22 boards in the win. Reese broke an LSU-record 28 rebounds in her last outing against the Aggies earlier this season.
Alexis Morris followed with 22 points on 8-11 shooting in her return to Reed Arena. The Texas native played her junior season (2020-21) at Texas A&M before transferring to LSU last season.
Flau’jae Johnson was the only other Tiger to break the double-digits mark with 11 points and 6 boards.
Texas A&M’s Sahara Jones led the Aggies with 14 points. Tinyea Hylton followed with 12 of her own. Both starting post players, Jada Malone, and Aaliyah Patty, fouled out to put the Aggies in a difficult situation for the final quarter.
The Tigers have a full week off before they have a matchup next Sunday at No. 1 South Carolina at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN. The Gamecocks, who have a Thursday game at Auburn, remained undefeated with a win at No. 5 UConn earlier on Sunday. LSU and South Carolina are the only two remaining unbeaten teams in the country.
The Tigers opened Sunday’s contest with a 9-0 run as Morris and Reese led the way with 5 and 4, respectively. Morris hit her second three of the afternoon to put LSU up by 11 with three minutes left to go in the opening quarter. The Tiger defense held A&M to a 2:55 scoring drought through the second half of the first. A Morris steal led to a fast-break that was finished on the other end off a second-chance lay up from Reese to make it 18-8 before the start of the second quarter.
Johnson hit a pull up jumper to start the second quarter and she was joined a possession later as Poa hit a catch and shoot three as LSU improved to a 23-8 lead. The Tigers held on to its early lead from the first quarter as A&M had outscored LSU 10-9 halfway through the second. A triple from Hylton put the Aggies within ten for the first time since the first quarter. Another made jumper from Morris put LSU ahead 29-18 at the media timeout with 3:45 left to play before the break. Reese went 2-2 from the free throw line to secure her 23rd consecutive double-double in as many games this season, before halftime. Reese hit a driving layup to stop a 6-0 Aggie run just before the break.
The Tigers were up 39-26 at halftime and were led by Morris who scored 16 and Reese who dropped 12 points and 13 boards in the opening 20 minutes. After two quarters LSU scored 18 points in the paint and dominated the glass with 23 rebounds, 1o more than Texas A&M.